The Maria Jackson Adventures
by Deus X Machina
Summary: London isn't the only city where aliens go. Join Maria Jackson on her adventures after moving the Washington DC.


Maria Jackson sighed as she shut her maths textbook and switched off her desk lamp. _Math_, she reminded herself. _Not maths. Nobody says maths in America._

Though it was still early, Maria saw no point in staying up and laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She remembered when she'd first met Sarah Jane. The older woman had told her how it had felt returning to a mundane after adventuring with the Doctor. It was terrible, knowing that there was so much more to the universe yet being cut off from it. Maria had been plagued with a near constant boredom ever since moving away from Bannerman Road.

She had gone through a phase of scouring news reports, looking for anything that could involve aliens, but she'd soon given up. She couldn't tell what did or didn't involve aliens and even if she could, she wouldn't be able to do anything about it. She didn't have Sarah Jane's sonic lipstick, alien supercomputer, or years of experience.

Maria slid open her nightstand drawer and pulled out the small silver cube inside. It was a puzzle box from a Verron soothsayer and it had been instrumental in saving Sarah Jane when she had been plucked from the space-time continuum. Sarah Jane had been told to give it to the one she trusted most and that had been Maria. Just a short time ago, Maria had been the one that this amazing, magical woman trusted most.

Leaving the puzzle box by her pillow, Maria drifted off to sleep, not realizing that someone was watching her.

**XXXXX**

Maria stirred in her sleep, only to realize that her blanket was missing and that she was lying on something too hard to be her mattress. She opened her eyes and found herself in a cage. Judging from the stairs leading up to a door and the lack of windows, the cage was in a basement.

The basement looked like an evil version of Sarah Jane's attic. Its tables were cluttered with strange devices that Maria was certain came from other planets. But while Sarah Jane would keep the most dangerous devices locked up in her vault, the person who had abducted Maria left what looked like weapons and torture devices out in the open. While Sarah Jane locked such things away, Maria's captor was studying and using them.

"So you're awake." Only then did Maria realize that she was sharing the cage with someone else. She turned and saw an American boy with closely-shaved brown hair about her age.

"Yeah," said Maria. "Who are you?"

"Gabriel," said the boy. "Gabriel Fawkes."

"Why are we here?"

"The guy who owns this place is some kind of scientist," said Gabriel. "I don't think he invented all the stuff in here. He's always taking it apart, like he's trying to figure out how it works. I'm here because he wants to study me."

"Why?"

"I can..." Gabriel fell silent as the door at the top of the stairs opened.

A man in a wrinkled suit with a loosened tie descended the stairs. "Miss Jackson, isn't it?" he said. "Glad to see you're awake. I was hoping we could discuss something."

"Who are you?"

"That's not important," said the man. He reached into his coat pocket and drew out Sarah Jane's puzzle box. "My scans of the city found this. It's made from a metal that can't be found on Earth. I've stolen alien technology from many different places. Crash sites, ancient ruins, even government facilities. But I never thought I'd find alien technology in the hands of a perfectly normal human girl. So who are you, Maria Jackson? What is this, and where did you get it?"

"I'm not telling you anything."

"I think you will. You see, I've been trying to study Mr. Fawkes' magnificent brain for quite some time. However, he's been as uncooperative as you. Disposing of dead bodies is quite troublesome but if you do not show me how this works, I will tear Mr. Fawkes' brain from his body and study it directly."

"Fine. But you'll have to let me out of the cage."

"You must think I'm an idiot."

"It's designed to only work for me," Maria lied. "And it won't work if it's enclosed in metal so you have to let me out of the cage."

The man took a pen from his coat pocket and pointed it at the lock. The pen made a buzzing sound and shined a blue light from its end. The lock clicked open. The pen was a sonic device, similar to Sarah Jane's lipstick.

Keeping the pen pointed at Maria, the man let her out of the cage and shut the door behind her. "Don't try anything stupid, girl. My pen can do much more than opening locks."

Maria held out her hand. With a moment of hesitation, the man placed the box in her hand.

Maria kicked the man in the crotch as hard as she could.

The man doubled over in pain, cursing. Maria raised the puzzle box and brought it down full-force onto the back of the man's head, knocking him out.

Maria took the man's sonic pen and pointed it at the cage door. The pen's light glowed blue and the lock clicked open. Gabriel climbed out and grabbed a backpack that had been sitting on one of the tables.

"Is that yours?" asked Maria.

"Yeah, I got kidnapped on the way to schoo- Hey!" Gabriel protested as Maria snatched his backpack, pulled it open, and began snatching the strange devices off the table and stuffing them inside.

"Do you know what those things are?" asked Gabriel.

"No," said Maria. "But I know that he's a dangerous guy and I don't want him to have any of it. Take everything you can carry."

The unconscious man stirred and groaned.

"Put him in the cage," said Maria. "Now!" Gabriel pulled the man into the cage and shut the door. Maria locked it with the sonic pen.

"So all this is alien?" said Gabriel as he stuffed a couple alien devices into his pockets.

"I guess so."

"You knew how to use that pen," said Gabriel. "You have a lot of experience with aliens, don't you?"

"Yeah. It's a long story. Let's get out of here."

**XXXXX**

Maria and Gabriel had found a frantic Alan when they reached the Jackson home. While Alan was on the phone talking to the police, Maria and Gabriel sat in the living room, the devices they took from the man's basement spread out on the coffee table.

"So what did that guy want with you?" asked Maria.

"I have this ability. I can touch something and I see its past. Like this." He picked up what looked like a gold bracelet and closed his eyes. "I can see people making it. I don't think they're human. They're loading it onto a spaceship. Now they're in the back room of a shop and he's selling it to a human. The alien calls it a 'perception filter'. I think the human's a thief. He's wearing it while walking into crowded buildings and taking valuables."

"So you're a psychic?" said Maria with a slight scoff in her voice.

"Don't believe me? Hold out your hand." Gabriel took Maria's hand in his own. "I can see you back in England. You've faced so many creatures. You call them Gorgons, Slitheen, Bane. I see you in your home at Bannerman Road. You're going across the street to investigate the glow from the neighbor's house. You see an alien for the first time. You meet Sarah Jane Smith, the woman who taught you everything you know about aliens.

"Now you're in your room. I don't think it's Bannerman Road. It's where you lived before that. Your door is closed and your blanket is over your head but you can still hear your parents. You hear arguing. Then you hear crying..."

"Okay!" Maria snatched her hand away. Gabriel opened his eyes and blinked, shaken from his trance. "I believe you."

"I can figure out what these things are," said Gabriel. "The question is what do we do with them?"

**XXXXX**

Two men in black suits and sunglasses descended into the basement. They had been tailing this man for weeks and had finally gotten a lead. They found him locked in a cage, nursing a bump on his head.

Agent Smith flipped open his cell phone while Agent Jones looked around the nearly empty basement.

"Sir," said Smith, "we found Dekker but the house looks empty."

"Did you find it?" asked the distorted voice on the other end of the phone.

Smith glanced at Jones, who shook his head. "No sir. It's not here."

"Bring Dekker in immediately. Whoever took it is a serious danger to himself and everyone around him."


End file.
